Honorary Members
2018 Honorary Member
The most distinguished of all OSA Member categories, Honorary Membership is awarded to individuals who have made unique, seminal contributions to the field of optics.
The roster of living Honorary Members demonstrates the high stature of this designation: Arthur Ashkin, Steven Chu, Claude Cohen-Tannoudji, Joseph W. Goodman, Roy J. Glauber, John L. Hall, Theodor W. Hänsch, Stephen E. Harris, Robert W. Hellwarth, Nick Holonyak, Donald B. Keck, Herwig Kogelnik, John C. Mather, William D. Phillips, David J. Wineland and Amnon Yariv.
Honorary Members are elected by unanimous vote of the OSA Board of Directors upon nomination by the OSA Presidential Advisory Committee and unanimous endorsement by the OSA Awards Council. The number of living Honorary Members cannot exceed two-thousandths (2/1000) of the total membership of the Society.
Honorary Members receive a complimentary OSA lifetime membership and other special recognitions of their distinguished status, including complimentary OSA meeting registrations and member subscriptions to all OSA journals of their choice.
Any OSA member may nominate someone to the status of Honorary Membership by sending a brief (no longer than one page) advocacy statement discussing the candidate to: OSA Awards Office, 2010 Massachusetts Ave., NW, Washington, DC, USA 20036; or email awards@osa.org. The deadline for nominations is 1 May.
2018 -
Joseph W. Goodman
[Citation]
For fundamental contributions in the fields of Fourier Optics and Optical Information Processing through his research, teaching and classic textbooks.
2017 -
David J. Wineland
[Citation]
for pioneering advances in laser cooling of ions together with
unprecedented control of individual ions in foundational experiments of quantum optics and quantum information.
2017 -
Amnon Yariv
[Citation]
for pioneering scientific and engineering contributions to photonics and
quantum electronics that have profoundly impacted lightwave communications and the field of optics as a whole.
2016 -
John C. Mather
[Citation]
For measuring, with his COBE team, the cosmic background radiation and its anisotropy with amazing precision from 50 to 600 GHz. The temperature of the Big Bang radiation was determined as 2.725 +/‐ 0.001K. According to the Nobel committee the COBE project can be regarded as the starting point of cosmology as a precision science.
2015 -
Nick Holonyak, Jr.
[Citation]
For fundamental, inventive and widely influential contributions to optics and photonics including the visible LED and the quantum well diode laser, technologies underlying solid-state lighting, the internet, and high performance computing.
2014 -
Robert W. Hellwarth
[Citation]
For pioneering introduction of Q-switches to lasers and profoundly influential contributions to the science of nonlinear optics, including stimulated light scattering, origins of nonlinear refractive index, photorefractivity and phase conjugation.
2013 -
Stephen E Harris
[Citation]
For pioneering and profoundly influential contributions to the science of light, including optical parametric emission, lasing without inversion, electromagnetically induced transparency, and single cycle optical pulse generation.
2012 -
Donald B. Keck
[Citation]
For breakthrough contributions to the field of optical communications, including the invention of the first low-loss optical fiber, and for a history of service to OSA.
2011 -
Jarus W. Quinn
[Citation]
For his exceptional leadership of the OSA as its Executive Director from 1969 through 1994 and the profound influence that he has had on making the society the success that it is today.
2010 -
James Gordon
[Citation]
For his numerous high-impact, seminal contributions to quantum electronics and photonics, including the first demonstration of the maser.
2009 -
Arthur Ashkin
[Citation]
for his pioneering work on optical trapping and the development of optical tweezers
2007 -
John L. Hall
[Citation]
For pioneering work on high-precision laser metrology and fundamental optical tests of physical principles.
2005 -
Herwig Kogelnik
[Citation]
For achievements in several areas of optics and photonics, contributions to lightwave communications by directing industrial research and for leadership in the scientific community.
2002 -
Claude Cohen-Tannoudji
[Citation]
For outstanding leadership in quantum optics, from initial studies of optical pumping, through seminal work on sub-Doppler limit laser cooling.
2001 -
Alexander Prokhorov
[Citation]
for his distinguished contributions and monumental role over the past 45 years in creating and developing quantum electronics
1987 -
Emil Wolf
[Citation]
In recognition of his preeminent service in the advancement of optics.
1981 -
John Donovan Strong
[Citation]
For pioneering work in aluminization of telescope mirrors, development of grating engines, infrared instrumentation and spectroscopy, and atmospheric and planetary physics using balloon-borne equipment.
Deceased